Johnson Memorial Health opened its new emergency department on Aug. 3.
The new 17,400 square-foot emergency care facility features more space, a new ambulance bay and a helicopter landing area.
It is part of a $47 million, state-of-the-art addition that is the largest in Johnson Memorial Health’s history. A new main entrance and outpatient services center opened earlier this summer.
In addition to the new emergency department facility, Johnson Memorial Health has announced a new partnership with Boone County Emergency Medicine. The award-winning physician-owned group began staffing and managing JMH’s Emergency Department on July 1.
“I am excited about the future of our emergency department and the partnership with BCEM. This will be a tremendous asset as we continue to build on our patient-first culture at JMH,” said Dr. David Dunkle, president/CEO of Johnson Memorial Health.
Dunkle said JMH selected BCEM because of its track record of quality of emergency care and efficiency with patient wait times for services.
JMH’s Dr. Ryan White, Dr. Kenneth Byerly and Physician Assistants Brenna Lee and Amy Hemmelgarn will continue to be part of the emergency care team.
Boone County Emergency Medicine also provides emergency care for Witham Health Services, including the freestanding Anson Emergency Department in Zionsville, and for Major Health Partners in Shelbyville.
Established in 1982, BCEM has shown an impressive record of patient services success, Dunkle said. In the first year of partnership with Major Hospital in Shelbyville, their emergency department press-ganey patient satisfaction score improved by 73 percent.
In 2017, the group helped Major Hospital earn the distinction of being one of 59 hospitals in the country with an emergency department door-to-doctor time of three minutes – the only hospital in Indiana to earn that distinction.
Their team, composed entirely of board-certified emergency medicine physicians, has earned numerous awards including the “Guardian of Excellence Award” four consecutive years, reflecting 99th percentile satisfaction scores for four quarters each of those years.
Dunkle said Johnson Memorial Health sees provider specialty groups as an excellent asset for patient care. For example, Indiana University Cardiology provides heart-related care physicians and services at JMH. “We have concluded this is the best strategy for a hospital of our size,” Dunkle said.
